Study and characterization of mural paintings from XIX Century in a noble Venetian (Italy) palace

The present paper describes the characterization carried out on the roof of a private palace located in the historical center of Venice (Italy). We focused our attention on the studies of original constituent materials (pigments and binders), in order to identify the pictorial technique of the artist and verify the stylistic attribution to Giuseppe Borsato, a Venetian painter operating between 18th and 19th century. Characterization of collected samples was carried on using both conventional and advanced analytical techniques, such as Optical Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM–EDS) microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) coupled with photodiode array detection (DAD) and Mass Spectrometry (MS). The finding of dating pigments (such as Cobalt blue and Cu–As based green) and of a complex binding's mixture compatible with the considered supposed period, allowed us to confirm the attribution hypothesis.